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Working Rapidly to Meet Rising Electricity Demand in Egypt

March 13, 2015 at 01:03pm

As part of the Egyptian Government’s steps to get the economy running at full speed and provide homes, businesses and industry the electricity they need, the government is working hard to bring new power supply online by the summer of 2015 through the “Egyptian Power Boost Program.”

According to MEED, demand is growing at about 7% a year, and the government needs to add at least 1,500 megawatts (MW) of new capacity each year just to keep up. By 2025, Egypt’s electricity demand is expected to rise to 50 GW, nearly twice the current level.

To help address this, GE is partnering with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company and the Egyptian Government in the “Egyptian Power Boost Program.” With the recent signing of major contracts with the Egyptian Government, GE will provide 46 advanced gas turbines that will generate more than 2.6 GW of electricity, enough to power more than 2.5 million homes. Some of this power will come online before the summer of 2015.

The project includes 12 heavy-duty gas turbines and 34 mobile aeroderivative gas turbines across 15 locations serving large and small communities from Upper Egypt to the Nile Delta.

Significantly, the agreement is expected to bring some of this power into service as early as May, in time to meet soaring summer demand for electricity. The quick delivery time also will give a big boost to the Egyptian economy by signaling to manufacturers that the government is taking swift action to ensure sufficient electricity supply, even in the face of peak summer demand. This will support the acceleration of key industrial initiatives and the manufacturing sector more generally.

The program includes two full-scale power plants in to a consortium of GE and Orascom Constructions that will generate 1,495 MW using 12 9E heavy-duty gas turbines.

The 9E is particularly suitable to meet Egypt’s need for reliable power because it offers a tremendous flexibility of up to 52 fuel types, including fuels with contaminants, natural gas, light and heavy distillate oil, naphtha, crude, residual oil, syngas, and steel mill/blast furnace gases.

Additionally, 34 mobile and onsite aeroderivative gas turbines (14 LM6000 turbines and 20 TM2500+ turbines) will be used across a number of sites nationwide and will generate 1,188 MW of power. The TM2500+ is known as GE’s “Power Plant on Wheels,” and provides scalable, portable, quick-to-setup power generation. The fast setup means these turbines will be among the first to provide electricity to homes and businesses in May.

To date, 34 turbines from a total of number of 46 turbines have arrived to Egypt, of which 26 are already on site (10 9E turbines, 8 LM6000 and 8 TM2500+). The speed element in this project reflects GE’s persistence to deliver on its commitment of bringing 2.6 GW of power on the grid by the summer of 2015.

GE has long supported Egypt’s electricity needs. In addition to this project, GE has more than 85 advanced gas turbines installed across Egypt, generating more than 9 GW of power, enough electricity to power 8.5 million homes.